Main research areas: Development of neuroprotective and regenerative gene therapies based on rAAV vectors for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, spinal cord injury, and rare diseases / Use of CRISPR machinery for gene therapy / Analysis of the potential of microRNAs and transcription factors as gene therapy targets / Development of new rAAV vectors.

Technological skills of the group: Production and purification of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors / Vector-mediated gene transfer of rAAV in vitro and in vivo / Glaucomatous neurodegeneration models / Spinal cord injury models / Alzheimer's disease models / Culture of primary cortical neurons from rodents / Culture of human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells / Microfluidic devices for neuronal culture / Fluorescence, confocal and electron microscopy / Real-time imaging of neurons in vitro / Molecular biology techniques (e.g., gene cloning, Western blot, qPCR) / RNA sequencing.

Key laboratory equipment: Ultracentrifuge (Beckman), AKTAGo chromatograph (Cytiva), Quantstudio 3 real-time PCR machine (Applied), Superspeed centrifuge (Sorval), Fluorescence microscope (Zeiss). Social media: https://www.instagram.com/neurogen_ufmg?igsh=bnVoczVybGloMWZ1&utm_source=qr